Patriots players react to Malik Cunningham’s impressive preseason debut that originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Malik Cunningham was one of the stars of the New England Patriots’ opening game against the Houston Texans on Thursday night.
Even though he didn’t go in at quarterback until late in the fourth quarter, the undrafted rookie brought much-needed excitement to the Patriots offense.
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He even scored New England’s first and only touchdown with a 9-yard run, including quite an effective juke. Social media went crazy with reactions after the play, and even Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was impressed.
Cunningham completed three of four pass attempts for 19 yards and dropped an end zone touchdown pass by Tre Nixon. He also ran for 34 yards and a touchdown in limited shots.
Here’s a rundown of Patriots players reacting to Cunningham’s preseason debut following the 20-9 loss to the Texans.
“Malik came in and did phenomenal, had a really good drive. Scored the only touchdown of the game. Did really well in both the run game and the pass game. It was really nice to see him do that. Especially his first game in the NFL, to be able to go out and put the jitters aside a little bit and play like he did was really good to watch I think everyone I’m sure he had those little nerves , little jitters the first play or so. As the drive went on you could tell he was comfortable with it. To see him score a touchdown and how excited he got was really good.”
“Yeah, it was really nice to see him come out and just play ball. It was nice to see that. Super nice guy, always talking, very energetic. To see him being able to do that was very nice on the sidelines for us to see that, I’m happy for him.”
“I saw him in college when he was in Louisville, so we already knew what he could do, but it’s good to see how he does tonight. It was definitely fun to watch. I know a lot of guys in this room now who have high expectations of him.
Malik is a young guy who comes in super humble every day, works hard in training and you see him putting in maximum effort. That’s what you want to see from you guys – make that transition from quarterback to wide receiver and now back to quarterback. To see that, and have him perform at a good level and get into the end zone, you have to be happy for a guy like that.”
“We all got excited there. You saw him give the ball to Jake [Andrews] and he tapped the ball. We are all excited to see another man succeed and do well. It was a great offensive unit out there and a team effort for the final push of the ride. It was great to see him score.”
